BRASILIA (Reuters) - The senator leading a congressional probe into Brazil’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has recommended that President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with homicide for alleged government errors that led to the deaths of thousands.
Bolsonaro has dismissed the probe as politically motivated. It is highly unlikely that he will face trial on any such charges, which would have to be brought by Brazil’s prosecutor general whom Bolsonaro appointed.
The nearly 1,200-page document, prepared by opposition Senator Renan Calheiros for a Senate commission that conducted the probe, alleges that Bolsonaro turned down early opportunities for the government to acquire vaccines, delaying Brazil’s inoculation campaign and costing an estimated 95,000 lives.
The report says Bolsonaro was guided “by an unfounded belief in the theory of herd immunity by natural infection and the existence of a treatment.”
“Without the vaccine, deaths would be stratospheric, as they turned out to be,” the report adds.
The draft report still needs to be voted on by the Senate commission and could be vetoed and altered. The vote is scheduled to take place next week.